The film takes place at the United Nations building in New York. A dictator accused of killing his own people, Edmund Zuwane (Earl Cameron), is scheduled to speak on his behalf in front of the General Assembly. An interpreter at the U.N., Silvia Broome (Nicole Kidman) happens to be at the building late one night and hears what she thinks is a plot to kill Zuwane. The case is assigned to Secret Service agents Tobin Keller (Sean Penn) and Dot Woods (Catherine Keener), who find, as they dig beneath the surface, there's far more to Broome and the entire situation than they ever thought.

The Interpreter is not a film about politics. Zuwane is the president of a fictional country, Matomba, and even speaks a fictional language. While he could certainly stand in for several dictators around the world, the political aspects of the film really pale in comparison to the people in the film. The events of the film are the results of the decisions of these characters. The film would not work unless we cared and understood both Keller and Broome.

It's a good thing, then, that both of these characters are portrayed by two of the best actors in the industry today, Nicole Kidman and Sean Penn. Kidman is far more than just a pretty face (and oh how pretty it is). She breathes life into Silvia, making her a distinct and memorable character. Silvia is very much a person who is the sum of her experiences, and it's interesting to watch her grow through the film, as she learns that she can and should be more of a whole person. Penn has a very difficult role, one mired in misery and loathing. His character is not immediately accessible, and, in fact, for a while, I almost thought Penn was phoning it in. However, as the film progresses, we see what Penn is doing with the character, and the subtlety of his performance shines through.

The film itself mirrors Penn's arc. The beginning of the film seems stolid and too studied. Things feel a little too stiff. And then we get to a scene between Broome and Keller alone in the G.A. and the whole film opens up. Penn and Kidman are absolutely astonishing in this scene, which is one of the two lynch pins of the entire film. This scene, naked and seething with feeling, reveals the emotional core that make the film more than just a thriller. From that moment on, we watch in rapt attention, because the film has finally stopped setting up events and information, and lets everything breathe.

But let's not forget this film is still a thriller. Unlike most thrillers, this movie is not all about suspense. By letting us know the characters, we care about what happens to them when the thriller aspects do occur, as opposed to simply inundating us with one action sequence after another. I mentioned the film has two critical sequences. The first is between Kidman and Penn at the U.N. The second features almost all of the entire cast and a fateful bus ride. The tension is so thick in this sequence that you actually hold your breath waiting to see how it plays out. Every actor is working in top form, completely as a team, and the editing and camera work ratchets up the suspense even more. When the film does reach the payoff, it's utterly shocking and disturbing.

If The Interpreter deviates from the classic cynical 70's political thrillers, it's in the way that The Interpreter has a sense of hope and a personal touch. Generally, 70's political thrillers like Chinatown suggested that conspiracies ran so deep that no one really had the power to stop them, and that the people involved just didn't matter. The Interpreter expresses the sentiment that people do have the power to make a difference, even change the face of the world. In some ways, the outcome of this sensibility makes the ending seem soft in comparison to those harder movies, but as the film cares more about the characters than the politics, it makes perfect sense.

The HD DVD:

The Image:
Universal used The Interpreter as an experiment, encoding the film in MPEG 4 (otherwise known as AVC) instead of its usual VC1. I must say, the experiment was a smashing success. The AVC encode is sharp and detailed, with very few flaws. I did notice some vertical banding in the opening sequence, when a truck is kicking up dust, and a bit of edge enhancement in one other scene. Other than those few problems, this transfer ably held up against many strong VC1 encodes.

The look of The Interpreter is slightly stylized. You might not notice it at a glance, but as I watched the whole movie, it became clear to me. First off, this movie has some grain. Not a lot of grain, but it looks intentional to me, and you do notice it. Secondly, the colors are slightly over saturated. I noticed this when I saw the film on cable in HD a few weeks ago, so I think this was how we were meant to see it. The good thing about that is that colors pop, especially inside the General Assembly of the U.N. and outside on New York's city streets. The transfer does justice to the look of the film and I can't imagine it being much better in VC1.

The Audio:
Universal offers two 5.1 mixes for The Interpreter, Dolby Digital Plus for English, French, and Spanish, and DTS for English. The two mixes sound very similar. The Dolby Digital Plus sounds slightly warmer, but the DTS has a little more clarity. Both tracks use the surrounds subtly, which is actually a refreshing change from most surround mixes. The surrounds get the most use in the scenes that take place out on New York's streets, and they do become quite active, but not distractingly so. When they do kick in, such as during the bus sequence, they really come to life, exploding with sound all around. Also offered is a Dolby Digital 2.0 mix.

The Supplements:
The Interpreter has several excellent special features. The first is a commentary by director Sydney Pollack. Pollack, a veteran filmmaker known for such classics as Tootsie, They Shoot Horses, Don't They? and Out of Africa, speaks eloquently and intelligently about his intentions for the film. He gets to the heart of the themes of the film, the intent for each scene, working with the actors, and more. It's a pleasure to hear someone speak so well about a film, as most commentaries these days tend to be dry technical facts or simple self-congratulatory back-patting.

"Sydney Pollack at Work: From Concept To Cutting Room" is an interview with Pollack that discusses everything from how he started his career in film, to shooting and editing The Interpreter, and his personal philosophies on film in general. It's another intelligent piece that, for the most part, covers subjects not discussed in the commentary.

"Interpreting Pan & Scan vs. Widescreen" is far from your average P&S/WS comparison featurette. This one actually shows Pollack in the editing room with clips from The Interpreter on his editing bay screen. He makes a personal plea to studios to not offer P&S versions of movies, and shows specific sequences from the film in both P&S and widescreen, pointing out exactly what information was lost and how his artistic intentions are being thwarted by panning and scanning the image. It's far more in-depth and illustrative than a basic comparison, and it has a fantastic quote that sums up the silliness of panning and scanning: "If toothpaste companies sold tubes of toothpaste with half the toothpaste missing, people wouldn't buy it. And yet, for some reason, people still buy pan and scan DVDs." Amen, Mr. Pollack.

"The Ultimate Movie Set: The United Nations" is another in-depth feature on how the crew actually got to shoot inside the real United Nations headquarters, where no other commercial film crew has ever been able to shoot. The documentary has interviews with Pollack, Darius Khondji the DP, Nicole Kidman, and others. The various crew members give a lot of interesting information, and it's neat to see the behind the scenes shots in the real Security Counsel room.

"A Day In The Life Of Real Interpreters" is exactly what it sounds like: Interviews with actual U.N. interpreters. I thought this would be fluff, but I was wrong, as the featurette really gives a sense of context to the film, and shows just how difficult it is to be an interpreter.

The disc is rounded out with several deleted scenes and an alternate ending, all of which are so far below the film's level of quality that it's easy to see why they got cut.

The Conclusion:
The Interpreter is a strong political thriller with an emotional core. Highlighted by invested performances and an excellent script that deftly balances suspense and drama, it's a film worth catching. A slew of extras that are a cut above the usual studio fluff combined with exemplary sound and picture make The Interpreter worth owning on HD DVD. Highly Recommended.

Daniel Hirshleifer is the High Definition Editor for DVD Talk.